Jen Fluker, a good friend of mine and co-worker and I joined a group of affiliate marketers, Affiliate Marketers Give Back, to walk 60 miles in September for breast cancer research.We have been blogging about our training at MarketLeverage 60 Mile Walk.

My grandmother on my father’s side was fortunate enough to beat this horrible disease. I am walking in her honor.

We are required to raise a minimum of $2200 each. MarketLeverage is matching all donations that are made in either of our names. So far Jen has raised $1200.00 and I have raised $884.00.  The deadline (August 27th) is fast approaching for all donations to be in and we aren’t quite there yet!

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 40,000 people die from breast cancer in the US each year. Globally, according to the World Conference on Breast Cancer, 400,000 people die annually from this disease.

We need to raise more money so families don’t have to watch their loved ones die from this horrible disease.

To donate in one of our names click the link below.

Debby Phillips

Jen Fluker

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I rarely step out of my comfort zone and try new things. So I decided that today would be a good idea since we are going for sushi for dinner.

I haven’t ever eaten sushi before and never wanted to either. Something about it has always grossed me out. I love seafood but never wanted to try sushi.

We went to a place called Sushi Den in Denver. It is supposed to be the 5th best place to eat sushi in the country. We were seated fairly quickly and I was a little nervous about eating. I made sure I had a good appetite before we went so the food would taste better.

One of our friends order the chefs special for us. He told the chef that he had friends from out of town and to make it special for us. So the chef made up various plates and sent them out to our table. I probably couldn’t recall any of the names of foods that we ate but I loved all of them. I know that we ate some of the largest shrimp I have ever seen along with huge scallops. The last time I had scallops they were served cold and that turned me off from eating scallops. I thought I would give them another try since they were being served warm. They turned out to be really good.

We ordered Saki that is served in a box. I thought this was weird but it was the night to try new things so I went with it. The server placed a box in a plate and poured the Saki into the box until it runs over in to the box. I think this is supposed to have some kind of meaning but I wasn’t really listening when he told us.

The Saki was better than I had remembered. It was still a little rough drinking out of a box and off the plate but tolerable.

We finished off this awesome meal with dessert. Two of us ordered green tea ice cream, which sounds gross but it was really good. I don’t know what the other dish was but it was definitely something I hadn’t had before. It was also good.

So the first night of stepping out of my comfort zone was a good start to many more!

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Our final day of our vacation in Colorado we took a ride with some friends up to Boulder. When we walked out of the hotel to wait for our ride, we realized it was the most beautiful day of our trip. It was cool and breezy and in the upper 80’s.

The previous days were really hot with no real breeze. We didn’t have the humidity like we do in Florida so that was nice.

We drive up to Boulder and the view of the mountains was breathtaking. We drive up the mountain and stop at various places to take pictures and look at the scenery. I think at the highest point we were at about 7,000 feet of elevation. We walked out on some of the boulders and took pictures with the mountains in the background.

We decided to go to a bar and restaurant called The Rio. They have rooftop seating so we could continue to enjoy the beautiful weather.

After we ate we walked down Pearl Street. It was a brick road with lots of trees and shops. There were various musicians playing for tips and one guy that juggled fire and put on a pretty nice show. One of the unique “acts” was a woman dressed up and she was posed perfectly still. I don’t know what you call these kinds of “acts” but I thought it was pretty cool. I couldn’t ever pose in a position for that long.

Pearl Street was beautiful. I wish we had more places like that in our area.

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A friend of mine and I are spending a few days in Denver for a little R&R. We had appointments at the Ritz today at noon to get a massage. They left no detail left undone. I picked out an oil that the massage therapise would use while giving me the massage. I don’t know the name of it but it was a relaxing scent. When I first laid down on the massage table I immediately said how comfortable it was. The massage therapist told me that it is a Tempurpedic. The table was amazing. During the massage they put an extremely hot towel on my back and feet. It felt so good! When I flipped over on to my back an eye pillow was placed on my eyes. I haven’t ever had that done while getting a massage. When the massage was over the bed was moved into the upright position and I was told me to take my time getting up. When I put the robe on I realized that it had heated during the massage. It was so nice and cozy.

I will definitely go back to the Ritz!

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Picture by Couche Tard

I had heard of Dixie Crossroads many times. I had been told that if I liked seafood I need eat there. It is located in Titusville, FL. They have been open for more than 25 years and recently voted “LOCAL’S #1 PICK FOR A MEAL!” in the June 2008 Florida’s Space Coast Living Magazine.

A couple of my friends and I drove to the beach on Saturday to spend a beautiful day soaking up the sun. On the way to the beach we passed Dixie Crossroads and all agreed that we had to stop there on the way home to find out what everyone was saying was true!

After spending the afternoon at the beach we packed up our stuff and headed to get some dinner. We walked in and only had about a 5 minute wait. We thought that was great considering it was a Saturday night.

We ordered fried oysters for an appetizer. They were amazing. I have had oysters in the past, but I haven’t had them fried before. They were great.

While we were waiting for our dinner some people that we met at the beach sent their server over to our table. She told us that they were buying us a round of drinks. So we happily took them up on their offer and ordered a round! Thanks

I ordered the Prime Rib, Snow Crab & Rock Shrimp.

By the time our food came out I was full from the salad, corn fritters and fried oysters. We almost immediately ordered boxes when they brought our food to the table.

I thought I had rock shrimp before but when it came out I realized I haven’t had it before. They are not served like traditional shrimp. They are in a hard shell that you have to pull the shrimp out of. I loved them, just as good as “regular” shrimp, maybe better.

I ordered my prime rib medium and it came out just the way I ordered it. I hate to send food back because it is improperly cooked, so I was glad it came out the way I ordered it.

I recently found out that I love snow & Alaskan crab. Of course  I have to eat it with melted butter! It taste much better that way.  The crab was also great. Normally snow crab is a little small but these seemed a little larger than usual and the crab meat was very tender.

We all left with happy stomachs and boxes full of food. We will definitely put Dixie Crossroads on our list of restaurants that we would like to return to.

Spending the day at the beach with friends, then stopping for seafood on the way home… life doesn’t get much better!

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